Cleveland State University President Laura Bloomberg made her case before lawmakers Tuesday that the university’s aging buildings justify her request for nearly $15.8 million in state money.
“Our campus is 60 years old,” she said. “It’s young by many university standards, and yet, many of our buildings are showing their age.”
This spring, leaders of all of Ohio’s public four-year universities are going to Columbus to make their requests for capital funding before the Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee.
Bloomberg’s testimony wasn’t just focused on things such as new roofs or HVAC systems, though.
The committee’s chair, Lake County Republican Sen. Jerry Cirino, asked the presidents to come prepared to talk about all kinds of topics, including their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and a breakdown of the institutions’ spending.
Bloomberg gave a wide-ranging roughly 40-minute debrief on the university at large – including why they’re offering voluntary buyouts, enrollment projections, and what educational programs are growing – before senators asked her questions for about 20 minutes.
Here are a few key moments from Tuesday’s meeting.
Better connecting Cleveland State, Cleveland schools
Cleveland State’s needs were, of course, the agenda’s marquee item. But many senators had questions about the university’s relationship with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.
Cirino’s comments were especially pointed. He called the school district a “continued disappointment, in terms of quality of output, and one of the most expensive, if not the most expensive, [school] systems in the state.”
In her testimony, Bloomberg noted that about 1,200 CMSD students go to one of three K-12 schools on Cleveland State’s campus. But Bloomberg, whose background is in teaching, called the university’s current work with the district “not enough.”
“This is an area of growth,” she said. “I think it’s an area of growth for all higher education.”
She highlighted examples of work between the two, including an urban education teacher preparation program and an initiative launched earlier this year to boost K-12 students’ access to computer science education and programming. And she highlighted challenges, too.
“Just like we are dealing with financial struggles, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is as well,” she said, in a nod to CMSD’s $168 million budget hole.
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Cleveland State eyes potential additional reduction in force
Those financial struggles Bloomberg mentioned include Cleveland State’s projected $40 million budget gap. As Signal Cleveland reported last month, the university is offering buyouts to faculty and staff as one way to help fill that hole.
But, as Bloomberg told the senators, that “will not, very likely, be enough.”
“We know that we will need to be looking at additional reduction in force in the coming months,” she said. “We’re prepared to do that.”
She went on to say that Cleveland State wants to be a “resilient organization we can all be proud of.” That means, she said, needing to address “the financial realities that we’re facing.”
Cleveland State’s capital asks total about $15.8 million
The point of the hearing was for lawmakers to make their pleas to get some state funding to help with improvements to buildings.
That’s an especially big deal for the infrastructure at Cleveland State. Nearly 60% of the university’s 44 buildings are more than 25 years old.
Cleveland State leaders are asking for about $15.8 million to help with deferred maintenance costs. The biggest chunk of that – about $10.5 million – would go towards mechanical, electrical and plumbing improvements.
“These are the mostly unseen but fundamental parts of our infrastructure that are essential to run,” she said. “When they don’t run well, we all know it.”
Bloomberg said the university voluntarily engaged with the state auditor’s office to get a performance audit. That deep dive will look at things such as how the university utilizes its current space as well as projected costs of deferred maintenance.
The president said the audit is projected to come out soon.
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